When you bought the Beatles hit ‘When I’m sixty-four’ on short play vinyl with one of your first pay packets, it all seemed so far away. Now a mere forty-something years later, you’ve reached the age of the song’s infamous title!

But wait, you’re not ready for it yet!

The unexpected ‘surprise’ third child that you tagged on the end has only just finished university and you are still about ten years away from finishing paying for their studies, the new conservatory and that place by the sea that your wife insisted upon. (Note to self, why oh why didn’t we keep the wife’s flat when we moved in together in the swinging sixties?)

The pressures of ensuring that the children completed their studies, whilst keeping a stable home meant that real planning for retirement seemed pointless as it felt just so far away – except it wasn’t. So the daily expenses were still being piled onto the credit cards, whilst new mortgage deals had still been taken out in your early sixties.

The bit that said you would be repaying until you were 75 was lost in the reams of small print that so many of these agreements commonly contain.

So surely it wasn’t just the unexpected extra child that led you into this mess?

Well, despite being one of those baby boomers born just after the end of World War Two, whilst many have been very lucky, there are some that seem to have fallen foul of every possible financial mishap.

For all too many a family the story reads like this:

Taking an endowment out in the 80’s, just prior to the Wall Street crash, was not the best of starts. A failure to capitalise on Maggie’s privatisations followed, prior to the blackest of black Wednesdays meant that you then lost a job in the early 1990’s, right in the middle of the era of ageism. That is before Brussels interfered!

The remnants of the ‘Power 80’s’ meant you were finished at 40-something, with none of that modern thinking that the middle and end-career applicants have oodles of experience to offer. Sadly, there was more to come. Being loyal to the bank had meant that you enjoyed a good relationship with a bank manager (who still wore a mac in the pouring rain), but also meant that you missed out on the Abbey National, Alliance and Leicester, Halifax & more demutualisations that handed out £thousands in a short space of time. Then finally, when interest rates started to come down at the end of the 1990’s and the turn of the century, you took a 5-year fix as 6.5% seemed like a great rate (you recalled only just hanging onto your house when rates topped double figures in the 1980s). So you missed out on several good years when you could have been paying a sizeable chunk down on your mortgage.

Sob story over, put quite simply, what are you going to do now?

The first step in any financial planning is to understand the here and now.

Start by calculating how much you really owe and who you owe it to. Continue by detailing the everyday regular expenses that you incur and your anticipated earnings for retirement. By contacting your pension provider to understand your exact pension income and lump sum options, you will now know exactly what retirement means for you and so it is now possible to look at the options available.

Many people approaching retirement opt to work beyond the standard retirement age. Although the ability to do this varies by industry and employer, start by having a chat with your boss to see if this is something that might be possible – if you want to stay on that is!

If you are worried, unsure or simply don’t know what to do next, then contact Lewis Alexander on 0800 018 6868. Lewis Alexander are personal debt management consultants who can help you understand what options may be available to you.

By calling FREE for a confidential financial healthcheck, we can talk you through the debt solutions available and find one that is best for you at the moment. As we are independent, we look at all cases individually and without bias, prior to agreeing with you the best next steps to take.

We offer a range of financial solutions, from debt management help to insolvency advice. Call one of our debt management consultants now on free phone 0800 018 6868 and start to work out a way to clear your personal debts.

It can cause huge upheavals in family and friendships as well as your place of work.

If you are worried about debt problems it can start to escalate very quickly and it almost feels as if it is out of control before it actually is. The stress of debt can be very upsetting to anyone that is going through times of financial crisis or hardship.

This is not something that is a problem for only adults but it also affects the younger generations. As times have become harder, many people have dipped into past savings to cope with the harsher economic climate and unemployment. Increasing outgoings and money for basics such as rent, rates and heating are becoming hard to meet and find.

You may already be in a situation that seems to be getting out of control and you think that there is not much you can do to get yourself out of this debt trap.

You may be already feeling depressed and unable to sleep.

Let me tell you that even if you are in any of the situations above and as Christmas, the festive season is around the corner, you have many solutions that will make a real difference to the way you feel about yourself and your financial situation.

You can make one simple phone call to a professional who knows how to deal with your situation!

You may be going through phases of guilt and shame because of your financial status?

Professional counsellors have been dealing with these kinds of situations for a long time!

Worrying about your debt can take over your whole life and start you on a path of creating negative views and differing judgment on everything around.

All of a sudden the situation seems bleak, but there is help available!

Approach a reputable debt management company and you will be put at ease immediately. The most difficult situation is to come to terms with the debt itself, ask for help, seek professional advice from people who have your interests at the heart of what they do, talk to them, and discuss your situation today in confidence.

Once you have made that initial contact you will find that things are not too bad. You will certainly feel that you have the courage to deal with the problems and suddenly you can see a glimmer of light at the end of what seemed to be a long bleak tunnel.

Are you lying awake at night worrying about debt problems with Christmas just around the corner?

Have you been wondering how you will cope with trying to keep the children happy over the Christmas period?

Find yourself getting angry with you and the people around you?

Are you feeling depressed and feeling that you are all alone in debt?

Stop… Make one free call now!

Take a look around a few of the best debt management companies, spend a few minutes and check out their credentials. Make a simple phone call and the hardest part is finally over. Your advisor will have a confidential chat with you to see where they can help and with what solutions. Always remember that you need to take action to help yourself make the decisions that may seem difficult initially and start making adjustments to your own lifestyle and expenses.

Lewis Alexander Financial Management offer a first class personal Debt Management Service, nationwide throughout the UK. We are based in Manchester and we have helped thousands of client’s in our history. We employ specialists who concentrate on debt management and loan consolidation and we have been looking after a great number of our clients for many years now.